This year for our spring break, we decided to go to Kruger National Park for a week. Yes, you read that correctly – spring break. Living in the southern hemisphere has been an adjustment, but I really like it. This was our third trip to the park and our longest visit yet. We stayed in the Lower Sabie rest camp in the caravan and it was a fantastic trip. I highly recommend going in the spring, if you have the option. The plants have not gotten their leaves back yet, so visibility is great. There are also lots of baby animals and pregnant animals. We did not get lucky enough to see any births, but we saw lots and lots of babies. Days in Kruger are feast or famine. You have days where you don’t see much at all and days where you wonder if you’re dreaming because the animals are literally everywhere. In an effort to not make this my longest blog post ever, I’m not going to do a day by day breakdown. I really could keep you here for hours. I took over 1700 pictures. There are quite a few here, but even after the weeding out process I still had over 350. So let’s get started!
Our first sighting 
Southern Ground Hornbill
Our first, and last, sightings were of lions. We have never, ever, seen so many lions. Big prides of 20+ all the way down to single lions out hunting. We only saw one white rhino on this trip, which was odd. We usually see many of them. On this trip, we saw all of the big five – Buffalo, lion, leopard, rhino, and elephant. We also saw a cheetah, but did not get a picture.
The days consisted of getting up at 5am to leave by 5:30 when the gates opened. We would have breakfast on the road, back at camp for lunch, then back out by 2pm until the gates closed at 6pm. We ate well, of course, because it’s vacation! Here’s the menu:
Sunday, Oct 13 – B: Muffins, L: Chicken sandwiches, D: Burgers and snap peas
Monday, Oct 14 – B: Yogurt, fruit & eggs, L: Buffalo chicken pasta salad, D: Kassler chops, corn, asp
Tuesday, Oct 15 – B: Banana bread, L: Tuna melt subs, D: Spaghetti & meatballs
Weds, Oct 16 – B: Yogurt, fruit & eggs, L: Brisket sandwiches & chips, D: Kebabs
Thursday, Oct 17 – B: Banana bread & fruit, L: Beans & franks, D: Shrimp scampi
Friday, Oct 18 – B: Banana bread, L: Lian’s cheesy pasta, D: Ribs, baked beans
Saturday, Oct 19 – B: Banana bread, L: Nando’s grilled chicken , D: Home
We got lucky enough to watch a crocodile at a waterhole eating his lunch. We had to wind our way through all the baboons in the road. For some reason they love sitting in the road. We saw hippos fighting, fish eagles eating their catch, and huge buffalo herds migrating across the park. It’s hard to pick the best sighting. One of my favorites was the leopard. We were cruising along the road all by ourselves and there he was, sitting in a tree right on the side of the road. It was like he was hanging out waiting for us. On our last day, we were cruising along and came upon a hyaena walking down the road. Then just a few miles before the gate to leave the park, we saw some wild dogs. It was our first sighting of them and they are pretty rare to see during the day. It really was an amazing trip. We saw more animals than we’ve ever seen before, big and small. We will definitely be back next spring, but also before then! Our next visit is already scheduled for March 2020. Once you get bitten by the safari bug, there’s no going back!
Kingfisher 
Mongoose
I almost forgot! On day four, we were cruising along the road at about 25kms/hr – really slow. Cameron was driving and Reid was sitting behind him. Out of nowhere, an impala ran out into the road and right into the truck, then Reid’s hand! It was unbelievable! The poor guy got up, shook his head, and tottered off into the bush. Once we knew he was ok, we thought it was hilarious! I don’t think I’m going to get this battle scar fixed….
Swollen hand! lol
Just a few more! Until next time….
